Mummy Cat of Tutankhamun
by tombraidergirl
Summary: This is a short piece I have written a while ago. Lara searches for a legendary artefact in the Kings Valley. The idea was mentioned in my story Dangerously in Love.


Mummy Cat of Tutankhamun

"Miss Croft, my name is Richard Cunningham." A blonde man, from his looks in his mid thirties approached Lara. His skin was tanned from being in Egypt for quite a while now.

Lara had just arrived in Egypt a few days ago, coming straight from another assignment in Tokyo, Japan. The previous days she had spent in a library, researching about the mummy cat, or rather refreshing her memory. Now she was waiting on the terrace of her hotel for the rest of the expedition to show up. The blonde American was the first.

"My friends call me Rick," he added.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Cunningham." Lara replied. She was not interested in socializing with him; in fact, if she could have chosen, she would do this job alone. She didn't like to work with others, she didn't trust their abilities. Seldom had she found someone who was able to keep up with her. And she was pretty certain Richard would not be one of them.

The other expedition members showed up shortly afterwards. There was Michelle, a young archaeology student from France, there were Andrew and Steve two English guys in their thirties and there was Susannah an American girl. They agreed that they would leave for Tutankhamun's tomb at KV 62 immediately. Richard had organized two jeeps for the trip to the King's Valley.

They arrived at King's Valley a few hours later. During the trip, Lara had been in the same jeep with Susannah, Andrew and Steve. In an attempt to evade Richard, she had ended up with them and they had started to get on her nerves only moments later. All three seemed to be amateurs from the way they talked. Lara tried her best to shut them out, while thinking about what they could do if the search at KV-62 brought no result, which she was pretty certain of, since many had looked for the mummy cat before and never found it.

Richard, who had been in the first jeep came towards them and opened the door for Lara.

"We're there," he announced.

Lara got out and grabbed her equipment. "Are you certain? This doesn't look like the King's Valley to me." The irony in her voice was hard to miss. She pushed past the man and strode towards the entrance of the Tomb of Tutankhamun. It was located near the Tomb of Ramses IV and just below the surface, at the base of a sloping hill.

Richard looked after her with confusion. Lara's reaction had hit him like a slap in the face. He asked himself what he had done to deserve such a reaction. He just wanted to be nice and flirt a bit.

He was still standing there, when the rest of the expedition had set out to follow the determined tomb raider.

By now, Lara had attached the gun rig to her hips and put on her backpack. She had kneeled down and started probing the surface of the resealed tomb with her fingers. Black gloves, with the fingers cut out, were protecting her hands. The other team members stood around her, as if she was giving a tour of a museum and all they had to do was listen. That annoyed Lara greatly. What annoyed her even more was that none of them was standing between her and the sun. If she had to keep up with those amateurs, they could at least be a little helpful. A glance around told her that they probably had to be forced to touch the rough surface. Susannah even had long painted fingernails and not one of them was wearing gloves. She pulled out her sunglasses to protect her eyes, then she continued to scan the ground for any clues, till she finally found the right spot where she had to lift the cover.

"Can someone get me the crowbar out of the jeep?"

Just as Lara had expected Richard was the one to answer first.

"Of course," he said and strode back towards the vehicle.

'Bootlicker,' Lara thought to herself.

She straightened up, while waiting for him to return. Smiling sweetly he did and handed the crowbar to Lara as if it were a bouquet of flowers. This guy obviously thought he had a chance with her. She had to do something about that, but the job would come first.

Lara rammed the crowbar into the gap and lifted the cover. A slightly rotten air greeted the team, the men sighed with excitement and Susannah held her nose, complaining about the stench. To Lara's surprise, Michelle remained calm. The small thin girl, despite her weak looks, seemed to be the best prepared.

Lara jumped down and the others followed.

"We are there. We will find the mummy cat." Steve called out thrilled. He was even about to storm down into the tomb when Lara held him back.

"I'd calm down if I were you. First we haven't found anything yet, second this tomb might still be full of traps, so don't just run inside, be careful, where you tread."

"But there were people in here before us, how can there be traps." Steve reasoned.

"This might be contradictory to my second statement, but it proves my first. And you can never be careful enough in an old tomb. The fact that no one activated a trap yet, doesn't mean there aren't any."

Carefully Lara walked down the stairs, with the others behind. She noticed that Steve, after being told off, had fallen back to the end of the line and was whispering to his friend. Richard seemed to be trying his best to please Lara, by offering himself to carry the crowbar. Of course, the bootlicker was trying to look good next to the other two guys. Susannah stepped onto the stairs on tiptoes, trying not to touch anything, scanning the walls and ceiling with disgust.

'That girl's not cut out to be here.' Lara thought to herself.

In her attempt not to touch anything, Susannah ran into a vase and kicked it over and down the stairs. The noise startled the two men at the end, who faced the direction of the noise, with clenched fists.

"Watch out, or we have to leave you outside." Lara yelled at her.

Susannah's face turned red.

Lara turned back to the stairs and went further inside the tomb. She came past a set of crumbling steps. "Be careful not to slip here," she said to the people behind her.

Michelle hopped over the broken part of the stairs with ease, so did Richard. Susannah almost lost her footing, but Andrew caught her. She smiled at him stupidly.

After a few more steps, they were down in a long corridor. Lara strode ahead, till she reached a rectangular chamber.

"We are there," she announced. "The burial chamber is to our right. There is a little side chamber ahead. I guess we have to explore the area for any hidden clues. Be careful and don't touch anything if you don't know what it is."

They spread out and everybody started to investigate something that seemed of interest. Lara decided to investigate the side chamber of the burial chamber, while Richard decided to study the drawings in the burial chamber. Lara already knew they wouldn't find a clue there. She had studied them over and over again before and again when visiting the library during the last few days. She knew the answer wasn't in any book, else someone would have found it already. There had to be a clue here, no one had found before. Carefully Lara examined the chamber from wall to wall, from ceiling to floor. But the chamber was very plain. No drawings on the walls and the surface was pretty smooth. The mummy cat had to be somewhere within this tomb, Lara had seen illustrations of the burial ceremony showing the cat. But Howard Carter had not found it when he discovered the tomb in 1922. Suddenly she remembered that it was said that the tomb was robbed and resealed in ancient times, one easily forgot, when remembering that most of the funerary equipment was complete. Maybe whoever raided the tomb back then had been here to get only the mummy cat. Yes, that must be it.

Frustration grew in Lara, today would be fruitless again. Why hadn't she thought about the possibility, that the cat was stolen back then? It was mainly because it wasn't mentioned anywhere later. If it had been stolen, it should have shown up elsewhere. Up until now, Lara had never seen the tomb with her own eyes, so she still had hoped there was a hidden door somewhere, but now she saw that she had been mistaken. There was nothing, simply nothing.

A loud scream interrupted her thoughts. She heard a rush outside and slowly followed. She found Susannah in the burial chamber holding her bleeding hand. A nasty trap of spikes had shot out of the floor and caught her. It seemed the stupid girl had been touching something carelessly.

"It hurts," the girl yelled.

Richard was already investigating the wound. Lara opened her backpack quickly and took out bandages and something to disinfect the wound.

"Come here, Susannah, show me your wound."

Susannah looked up, but was still clutching her hand. She moved closer to Lara, her face displayed her agony when Lara took her hand.

"You have to let go."

Reluctantly Susannah complied. Lara inspected her hand and then decided that it looked much worse with all the blood than it really was. Carefully she used the disinfectant, making Susannah howl in pain. Then Lara quickly bandaged the wound. Susannah looked like she would faint every moment.

"Rick, we have to get her out of here. She needs fresh air and something to drink."

Richard nodded and they both supported Susannah, while leading her to the stairs.

"Don't touch anything while I'm gone." Lara told the rest of the expedition team.

Richard and Lara brought Susannah back to the jeep. She sat down inside and Lara handed her the waterskin.

"Drink something."

Richard sat down next to Susannah while Lara handed her a snack as well. Slowly the girl got some colour into her face again.

They hadn't sat there for long when Michelle arrived.

"I think the cat is not here," she said disappointed. "There is no use in staying down there any longer, I guess we have to come up with a new plan."

Lara simply nodded. She was glad at least one of them seemed to be clever enough to handle this expedition.

"Shall I get the others?" Richard asked getting up.

"No, let them continue their search, while we decide what to do now."

"But…"

"They have to learn their lesson. Eventually they'll get, that it's not there. I just hope that they don't trigger the next trap."

"So what do we do now?" Michelle asked with still burning enthusiasm.

"My guess is, that someone has taken the cat, either before the tomb was sealed after the burial ceremony or when it was robbed."

"But Carter was the first to find it." Richard objected.

"Yes, he was the first one in modern times. But it is said, that the tomb was robbed and resealed long before that."

"But all the treasures were still there." Richard said.

All the while Susannah just listened, she didn't have anything to say to the subject.

"Maybe whoever robbed it wasn't after the treasures inside, but just after the mummy cat. Today it would be worth a fortune, but not back then. It isn't made of gold or any other valuable material. Probably he believed in the mystical powers of the cat."

"Mystical powers?" Michelle asked curiously.

"I see you haven't heard of them." Lara replied and looked at Richard to determine if he knew anything. She did not bother to look at Susannah, she wouldn't know.

"It is said that the mummy guided one to the afterlife safely. Even the ones whose heart was full of sins and who wouldn't have gotten past Ammut." Richard explained.

"Ammut?" Michelle asked.

"You might know her as Ahmet. She's mentioned in the Book of the Dead."

While Michelle now seemed to understand, Susannah still looked clueless so Lara went on explaining.

"She's a demoness from the underworld. You might have seen drawings of her with the head of a crocodile, the arms of a lion and the back of a hippopotamus. She would be waiting while the heart of a deceased was weighed against the feather of Maat. If the heart was heavier than the feather, thus full of sin, she would consume it, denying access to the afterlife."

"Yes, I have seen pictures where this creature was sitting next to a set of scales." Susannah said.

"And the mummy cat would protect one from Ammut?" Michelle asked.

"Exactly." Lara said.

"So whoever has taken the mummy cat must have needed her." Richard continued.

"I could imagine that it was maybe Ay who took the cat." Lara said.

"Ay, Tutankhamun's godfather?" Richard asked surprised. "But why?"

"I have a hunch. He was one of the few people who knew back then, that the mummy cat existed. These stories were relatively unknown in ancient times, they became popular, as it is most of the time, after the artefact disappeared."

Lara waited for the information to sink in, before she continued.

"Let's just hop over to the West Valley to KV 23. That tomb was intended for Tutankhamun, but since he died earlier than predicted, it wasn't ready and Ay was buried in that tomb instead. "

By now, Steve and Andrew had arrived, complaining that the others had not come back. Lara quickly explained the new plan to them and not an hour later, the six were in the West Valley.

It was easier to find the entrance here than back at KV 62. Again, Lara led the group down the stairs and along the corridors, which were similar to the ones in Tutankhamun's tomb but much longer. Susannah had stayed back at the jeep, since her hand hurt too much, and she'd had enough of tombs for one day. They all arrived in the burial chamber and spread out to study the walls.

"There is just this one side chamber." Michelle remarked. "If this was intended for Tutankhamun, one might assume it had more."

"Don't forget it wasn't finished." Richard said.

"She is right. They've had enough time to finish it for Ay at least, but still there is only a single one." Lara said and sat out, back up the stairs.

She had this feeling that there might be more up there. Michelle who was curious followed her. The three men explored the burial chamber and its side chamber.

They made their way to a landing. Lara probed the wall left of the stairs, while Michelle took a closer look at the right wall. Suddenly Michelle gasped.

"Lara, I think there is something here."

Lara immediately changed sides and looked at what Michelle had found.

The wall there seemed to be plain, but when you let your fingers wander over the surface, one could feel that there was something hidden underneath a cover of mortar and sand. Lara carefully rubbed it off and slowly revealed a distinct marking.

The three men had gotten wind of the excitement and had arrived at the stairs as well.

"I think there is a hidden doorknob here." Lara explained.

After a few moments of Lara continuing to work on the wall she finally found a spot where she could push and the wall swung in opening a passageway. They all looked in awe at what they saw behind. There was a huge chamber, which went down deep below. About 5 meters down the floor was covered with spike traps. A walkway led over to a platform in the middle of the room. A little island in-between the traps, where on a pedestal sat something that had the outlines of a cat and was wrapped in white, or rather beige bandages.

"That's it. We have found the mummy cat." Andrew called out excited.

Faster than Lara could react, Steve had drawn a gun and pointed it at her head. Michelle and Richard were shocked and did not dare to move.

"Don't move." Steve ordered. Andrew approached Lara and took her weapons out of their holsters. He took both weapons and walked out onto the walkway. Steve followed him.

"You three will stay there and don't move, till we are back with the cat."

"Don't be silly. Turn around now and return my guns." Lara said.

Steve laughed and walked past Andrew. It happened quicker than Lara had anticipated, but she had anticipated it to happen. Blades shot out from underneath the walkway and slashed right through Steve who didn't even have the time to scream. Richard and Michelle looked away horrified and Andrew seemed to be in shock for a second, long enough for Lara to attack him with a dropkick. He dropped the guns and then stumbled backwards into the trap before Lara could grab him. After being hit at the leg, he fell screaming over the edge and into the spikes below.

"Ouch." Lara commented and then carefully collected her two HKs. She reholstered them and carefully walked back to the entrance. Richard and Michelle seemed to have caught themselves after the first shock.

"They probably got what they deserved." Richard commented.

"I think it's good that Susannah stayed in the car. Some people are just too careless."

"How do we get the mummy?" Michelle asked.

"I think I have an idea. Thanks to the two suiciders we know which traps to expect, and these cannot be indestructible."

Lara got off her backpack and took out a folded crossbow. She assembled it quickly and loaded it with explosive arrows. Then she lay down on the first part of the walkway and carefully hung her head down. She fired a few arrows against the support of the blades. Some of them seemed to fail at once. Then she picked up a rock and tested if the catwalk was safe, which it was.

"I'll go over there now to get the cat." Lara said.

"I'm coming with you." Richard offered.

They reached the cat without complications. But when Lara had grabbed it the room began to shake. Michelle made a shocked face at the other end.

"Rick, let's get out of here quickly." Lara shouted over the noise and ran down the catwalk. Richard followed her. Shortly before he reached the end, Richard slipped. The walkway crumbled under his feet and he almost fell into the depth. He managed to grab the ledge at the last second. Lara immediately grabbed his hand, pulling him up. Then, joined by Michelle they fled from the tomb, running up the stairs.

"Thank you for saving my life. It seemed you finally warmed up to me. Can I invite you to dinner or something?" Richard said to Lara when they were standing at the jeeps. He leaned over to her as if he wanted to kiss her.

"I don't go out with men who can't take care of themselves. Besides I am already seeing someone." Lara said and turned away. She left him standing and strode towards her jeep.

End


End file.
